2024 April – PPL, Just Gorgeous, Duck Weed, Nostalgia, At the end of the Rainbow, Lanyard, Bulbs

PPL

 

Mum has passed her PPL.

End of.

A very, very happy Mum.

This means she can now terrorise the skies on her own.  Her Flight Examiner (right) appears to have survived the ordeal.   And her Flight Instructor can relax now.  She’s flying on her own licence.

Good job chaps.

Look at that sky – got it done just in time.  The bad weather circuit was pretty much for real…..

 

Just Gorgeous

Who?

Cheek!

Me of course.

Mum’s not the only amazing thing on this planet I’ll have you know.

In fact, as you all know by now, I am in a different league.

Bless me and my cotton socks.

Fun Fact:    ‘Bless their cotton socks’. This saying comes not from the material cotton, but from George Edward Lynch Cotton. In 1858 as Bishop of Calcutta, Mr Cotton created schools for Eurasian children. As part of his philanthropy, he ordered dozens of pairs of socks to be sent over for the children, blessing them on arrival.

 

Duck Weed

This is the lake at Hinchingbrooke Park.  It is a bit duck weedy.

This is the path that runs alongside the lake.

I tend to stick to the path.

I had an ‘unfortunate incident’ with duckweed at Chorleywood Common when I stepped onto what I though was solid ground and it turns out it was a rather deep pond.   I went down like a lift.  Mum struggled to pull me out

She was a weakling then.

She goes to the gym now so I expect I’d be OK.

But I’m not going to risk it.

I’m sticking to the path.

 

Nostalgia

Remember these?

Obviously I don’t.

And anyway I only eat Carnivore.

I’ve had a look at the ingredients and I don’t believe there is much in there to interest me.   In fact, generally speaking I suggest you don’t look at the ingredients at all.

Off putting.

But still, a touch of nostalgia.

 

At the End of the Rainbow

Pretty!

The river is still pretty full but that doesn’t seem to deter Mum and her mad friends.

Fun Fact: Rainbows are optical illusions and do not have a physical end – so no pots of gold huh?   Rainbows are actually full circles reflected from raindrops.  The full circles are only visible from high up, like in an airplane or on a mountain.

Woah – didn’t know that.

S’true.

Look it up.

 

Lanyard

I have acquired a lanyard which means I must have been promoted.     I am not entirely sure if I need an extra layer of responsibility.

I already have to look after Mum and at the moment, offspring #4.

It seems everyone these days has to have a lanyard.

I’m pretty sure I don’t want one.

Executive decision made.

Please and thank you.

 

Bulbs

And finally just some stuff Mum has grown.

She gets ridiculously excited about this sort of thing.

 

 

 

Saffron’s recommendations this month:

Music:

Just one song this month.

Learn to Fly by Foo Fighters.

This remains one of Foo Fighters’ most popular songs of all time. It’s not hard to see why. Fun fact: in 2015, 1000 musicians joined together to perform the song, in an effort to persuade Foo Fighters to play a concert in the Italian city Cesena.

Nah, just kidding – too much other good stuff to ignore really isn’t there?

• Everlong
• The Pretender (Oooh watch the video)
• Best of You
• My Hero
• Times Like These
• All My Life
• Monkey Wrench
• Aurora
• Stacked Actors

 

Love a bit of Dave Grohl.

 

Reading:

West with the Night by Beryl Markham and published by VMC.  This woman’s life was insane.  Born in 1902 in Leicester, her family moved to Kenya in 1906.   As a child she spoke Swahili and hunted barefoot with the Murani tribe. She later became a celebrated racehorse trainer, a society beauty who courted scandal and a famous pioneering aviator. In September 1936 she became the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic from East to West, taking off in England and crash landing in Nova Scotia 21.5 hours later.  The book was published in 1942 and Beryl died suddenly in 1986 aged 83.

Inspirational.

Mum approves of her approach to life.

Of course she does.

 

Film:

The Aviator (2004) is based on the life of the eccentric and extremely wealthy Howard Hughes (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), whose roles as an aviator and film maker are spotlighted.

In 1938, Hughes completed a record-breaking round-the-world flight, becoming “the most famous man in the world”.  Hughes was a risk-taker spending several fortunes on designing experimental aircraft and eventually founding TWA as a rival to Pan Am airlines owned by his great rival Juan Trippe. 

While testing a prototype spy plane he crashed in Beverley Hills. His injuries were severe but he kept on inventing – including updating his own bed with moveable parts which is the basis upon which modern day hospital beds are designed.